ECAC West Release
 
Danbury, CT -- The No. 3 Elmira College women's ice hockey team placed four skaters on this year's ECAC West All-Conference Team in a release by the league office Thursday morning.
 
Rookie blueliner Kristin Chivers '19 was selected to the ECAC West First Team and the ECAC West All-Rookie Team after a 24-point regular season that saw the Antioch, IL, native produce seven goals and 17 assists. She registered at least one point in 18-of-25 games played this year and posted a season-high seven-game point streak during the heart of the season. Chivers produced four multi-point performances, all four coming in EC victories.
 
Her 24 points are tied for first on this year's team, while her 17 assists are tops among Purple and Gold skaters. Chivers' numbers stacked up against the rest of the nation are just as impressive. She boasts the nation's third-highest point per game average amongst defenseman (0.96ppg), which also ranks sixth in rookie scoring. Chivers is the country's top scoring rookie defensemen and one of just two defensemen to rank inside the Top-30 in the nation in rookie scoring.
 
Chivers becomes the first Elmira skater in nine seasons to earn First Team honors in her rookie season and is one of just five players to accomplish that feat in program history. She joins the likes of former AHCA Division III Player of Year honorees Laura Hurd '05 and Kayla Coady '09, as well as EC greats LeAnne Denman '05 and Tiffany Hart '10.
 
Fourth-year starter Olivia Nystrom '16 received ECAC West Second Team honors following a stellar senior season. The Swedish national scored a career-high 15 goals, nearly matching her previous three-season total, and assisted on nine others for a career-high 24 points. She produced six multi-point games, as well as four multi-goal performances.
 
Nystrom's 15 goals were scored over 11 games during the 2015-16 campaign, all 11 resulting in Elmira wins. Two of her 15 tallies went down as game winners, both coming against non-conference opponents in Gustavus Adolphus College and Williams College. She also had a knack for scoring on the penalty kill, as the senior winger knocked in a pair of shorthanded goals.
 
Fellow classmate McKenna Farole '16 was rewarded for her breakout senior season, as the Irvine, CA, native received ECAC West Honorable Mention status. Farole began her fourth year of collegiate hockey, third with the Soaring Eagles, with nine points to her name, but that all changed the weekend Elmira hosted Neumann University in mid-January.
 
After opening the first 12 games of the season without a point, Farole produced four in the two games against the Knights, which included her first collegiate goal in an 8-0 blowout. That weekend kick-started Farole's offensive production, as she went on to finish the season with career highs across the board with 11 points on three goals and eight assists.
 
Elmira's final award winner of the 2015-16 season was freshman forward Maddie Evangelous '19, who garnered ECAC West All-Rookie Team accolades. Evangelous may be small in stature, but what she lacks in size she more than makes up for in effort and talent.
 
The Hudson, MA, did not get off to best start offensively with just four points in her first 11 games. However, as the season progressed, the quality of play from the rookie forward only got better. Evangelous closed out the final 11 games of the season with 15 points, 11 of those 15 coming in Elmira's final five games. She finished the regular season with 19 points, the fifth-highest point total on this year's squad, on 10 goals and nine assists.
 
Evangelous, Farole, Nystrom, and Chivers, along with the rest of the Soaring Eagles, return to the ice next weekend for the 2016 ECAC West Conference Tournament. Elmira will play the highest remaining seed following this week's quarterfinal games next Saturday, March 5th, in the semifinals of the conference tournament at the Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh, NY. More details on next weekend's tournament will be made available next week.
 
2016 ECAC WOMEN'S WEST MAJOR AWARD WINNERS
Player of the Year: Kayla Meneghin – Plattsburgh State
Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Justine Silva – Buffalo State
Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Camille Leonard – Plattsburgh State
Rookie of the Year: Lauren Patterson – Utica College
Coach of the Year: Candice Moxley – Buffalo State
 
2016 ECAC WOMEN'S WEST ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
ALL-ECAC FIRST TEAM
F: Kayla Meneghin – Plattsburgh State
F: Melissa Sheeran – Plattsburgh State
F: Gabrielle Schnepp – Utica College
D: Erin Brand – Plattsburgh State
D: Kristin Chivers – Elmira College
G: Camille Leonard – Plattsburgh State
 
ALL-ECAC SECOND TEAM
F: Morgan Reed – Utica College
F: Bridget Balisy – Plattsburgh State
F: Olivia Nystrom – Elmira College
D: Andrea Ziesmann – Plattsburgh State
D:  Janessa Haasbeek – Utica College
G:  Justine Silva – Buffalo State
 
ALL-ECAC HONORABLE MENTION
F: Lauren Patterson – Utica College
F: Jordan Ott – SUNY Potsdam
F: Erin Gehen – Buffalo State College
D: McKenna Farole – Elmira College
D: Kayla Dion – Utica College
G: Keira Goin – Utica College
 
ECAC WOMEN'S WEST ALL-ROOKIE
F: Lauren Patterson – Utica College
F: Courtney Moriarty – Plattsburgh State
F: Maddie Evangelous – Elmira College
D: Kristin Chivers – Elmira College
D: Kayla Dion – Utica College